2003 Jackson Hole One Fly Event
High Water Challenges One Fly Anglers
For a change it wasn't the weather but the water
conditions which added some extra challenges for the 40 teams of anglers
competing in the 18th annual Jackson Hole One Fly.
With releases from the Jackson Lake Dam more than double the typical
flows, competitors battled the highest water ever encountered in the
event's history. The challenging conditions made casting accuracy as
critical as fly selection, as some of the most skilled anglers earned
top honors.
Serving as an alternate for the American Museum of Flyfishing team,
Worldcast Anglers guide Jim Hickey landed a 24-inch brown trout on the
stretch of the Snake River between Deadman's Bar and Moose to take home
the award for largest fish caught in the tournament.
"I was prospecting near some trees and thought it was a big cutthroat at
first," Hickey said. "He did give me quite a fight."
The top amateur individual point scorer was Joe Codd of the Frontier Fly
Fishers team. After a modest first day score of 111, Codd hit it big on
Sunday fishing the whitewater stretch of the Snake from the West Table
boat launch to Sheep Gulch. Using a customized Chernobyl Ant dry fly,
Codd landed a 23 inch cutthroat, one of seven measurable fish he caught
on the day. He finished Sunday with a whopping 597 points for a total of
708 to take the individual title.
"I didn't know I had had a strike until my fly disappeared," Codd
admitted. "I renamed my fly the 'Blind Squirrel,' because even a blind
squirrel can find a nut sometimes."
Codd credited Worldcast Anglers guide Mike Janssen for his success on
Sunday, and Janssen proved that his knowledge of the tricky waters of
the Snake River Canyon was no accident. With his boats combining for a
two-day score of 1,510 points Janssen was awarded top guide honors for
the tournament.
"I've fished that stretch countless times over the years," Janssen said.
"That's my water; that's my bread and butter."
Codd's point total Sunday was the highest single day score of the
weekend. Roger Plooster of the Nebraska Fly Casters finished second in
the individual competition with 678 points. Saturday's top individual
score was recorded by Jackson lawyer Peter Moyer, who tallyed 469 points
after deciding to go with a size 18 rusty spinner. Event founder Jack
Dennis declared Moyer's fly selection to be, "the most gutsy call of the
competiton."
Running away with the team event was the talent-heavy Team USA
captained by Walter Ungermann (who also also captained the U.S World Fly
Fishing team in Spain this spring). Keith Bean of Sevierville, Tenn., had
the highest score of any professional angler in the One Fly while
teammate John Kelleher's 664 points was third-highest among amateurs.
Team USA finished with a two-day total of 2,263 points while Frontier
Fly Fishers was a distant second with 1,725 points.
All the Lost Flies
As usual, stories of lost and recovered flies were shared with gusto at
Sunday night's banquet. Dubois angler Thomas Radoumis of the Charlie
Russell Riders team was nearly sidelined from Saturday's competition
while fishing with guide Will Dornan on the stretch of the Snake from
the Astoria boat launch to West Table boat launch.
"We got sucked into a big eddy and I didn't realize there was a rock
wall right behind us," Radoumis recalled. "I went to cast and when I
looked down I realized my fly was gone. Incredibly I looked down and
there's my fly floating in the muck. I couldn't believe my luck and
neither could Will."
Teton Troutfitters guide Caldwell Johnston may have gone to the greatest
lengths to salvage a competitors fly. While floating the Wilson to South
Park stretch of the Snake on Saturday, experienced angler Russ Lamb of the
First Interstate Bank team snagged his fly in a log located in a
five-foot deep, fast moving section of water. After examining the area,
Johnston realized that the current was moving too fast for him to wade
into the area from his current location.
After anchoring his boat, Johnston walked upstream about a tenth of a
mile, stripped down to his shorts and was able to get a running start.
With the current carrying him swiftly downriver, Johnston was forced to
eddy out three times before swimming to the spot where Lamb's fly had
disappeared. Miraculously, he found the fly floating nearby but found
himself without a storage location for the valuable Goulds half-down
hopper.
"I didn't have any pockets, so my mouth was the only place I had to put
it," Johnston said. Fly in mouth, Johnston returned to his boat, and
Lamb was back in the competition.
Flows Concern Founder
Event founder Jack Dennis was one of many people who questioned the
Bureau of Reclamation's decision to wait so long into the fall before
reducing the releases from Jackson Lake.
"Why couldn't the water have been brought down to Palisades Reservoir
months ago?" asked Dennis. "We all have some rights here. Isn't there a
better way to move this water?"
Radoumis agreed, adding that he was disappointed with the quality of the
Snake fishing compared to the waters he regularly fishes outside Dubois.
"If they could straighten out the problem with the water the week before
the competition, it would really even things out for everyone," he said.
2003 One Fly Event Winning Fly
The Peachy BMOC
This years winning fly continues the One Fly tradition of a foam fly
variation of the Cherynobyl ant design. One Fly guide Brandon Powers
married his Powers 747 ant design with a body design of the Willy's Red
Ant for the BMOC (short for big man on campus) Ant. A brilliant fly
tier, Brandon has realized flies needed to be changed at a
moment's notice to match the changing fall conditions of the river
during One Fly time. His Peachy BMOC design fit the bill and
was the top point getter, used by several high scoring anglers that
teams finished in the "money." For the last few years Brandon's patterns
have been popular among many One Flyers and have established him maybe
as the next "Scott Sanchez" of the fly tying world. |
